Predicting the Future! Comics out the third week of December, 2008

It's a big week for comics, with 7 items on my purchase list. Let's take a look into the future, and try and predict what I'm going to feel about these comics ahead of time. For the purposes of this column, I'm adopting a totally arbitrary Letter-based rating system which I'll probably drop after Wednesday, in keeping with my scattershot, random approach to blogging and reviewing.

Fear Agent #25: This should be a good issue; the storyline has been a little slow, but it seems to be at the point where things should start speeding up and revelations should be coming. This will likely be at the top of my reading pile, so you can tell I'm looking forward to it. I'm thinking it's about time to get more than 16 pages in one issue, too. Predicted rating: A-

Invincle Iron Man #8: No excuxe not to be good, with Fraction & Larocca on board with a major status quo upheaval. When Fraction's on, he's on like (almost) nobody else, and Larocca is a perfectly capable artist. I expect to love this. Predicted rating: A+

Thor: God-Sized: Likewise, Fraction recently did a beautiful job exploring the idea of Myths in his Thor specials, and I expect this to be good as well. I'm only slightly worried about the broad mix of artists on board, but otherwise, much like his Reign of Blood special, I expect to be able to fire up some old-school metal and bang my head to this comic (well, not literally, that would make it difficult to read) Predicted rating: B

Thunderbolts #127: Mean-spirited fun! What else do I need to say? I'm going to try and drop this after this issue for cost reasons, anyway. Predicted rating: B

Uncanny X-Men #505: I like the last issue quite a bit, but I'm more interested in the Beasts' building of an X-Thinktank than the Colossus story. I have a feeling that the Colossus story will be the focus here, but that won't ruin my enjoyment of this comic, just maybe knock it down a peg. Predicted rating: B-

X-Factor #38: These last two are the hardest to predict. X-Factor has been digging itself out of the rut it slipped into following Messiah Complex, so I'm hopeful for that to continue here. The current story is dragging a bit, so let's hope it wraps up and moves on to something more interesting...like I said, Hard to predict, so I'll call it in the middle. Predicted rating: C+

X-Men: Legacy #219: This is even harder to predict, since the book just came off a weak two-parter followed by an absolute piece of crap crossover, making this potentially the first good issue in 5 months. It doesn't help that Scot Eaton is out for this issue, and the preview pages don't look like the guest is nearly as good. The coming storyline looks interesting, but frankly, this transitional issue looks to be another dissapointment... Predicted rating: D+

Thoughts? Predictions? Want to tell me I'm an idiot? Leave a comment.